Natsume and the Sakura Tree
by RainboWasabi
Summary: Discovering an ancient magical tree, unknown to humans, Natsume decides to help a youkai to be human again.
1. The Chase Through the Leaves

**Natsume and the Sakura Tree**

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**Chapter 1: The Chase Through the Leaves  
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Gliding effortlessly through the woods, a grey youkai with a penetrating eye drew out its elongated tongue. Its corpselike hands stretched, while its tongue trailed ahead of its tail. It speaks...

"Natsume…"

"Why are you running away from me, Natsume..."

"I just want to have a little taste!"

Echoes of a demented laugh resonated within Natsume's ears as he ran frantically through the moist foliage. Puddle after puddle, Natsume's shoes soaked into the muddy water, imprinting tracks of haste. Looking up above at the towering canopy, he searched through the crevices where the morning light seeps.

_I... I can't seem to find a way out..._

_Nyanko-sensei, where are you?_

Falling down below, drops of dew trickled on his forehead, sliding across his nose. With his sleeve, he wiped the dew off from his eyes. Drenched and without a direction, Natsume pushed through the dense leafage, exhaling breaths of vapor.

The woods was silent and still. Birds were nowhere to be heard or found.

Only the haunting echoes of the youkai reverberated throughout the emptiness, which shuddered the frail leaflets with a gust of dread. Expelled from its gaping mouth, it resumes its death call.

"Natsume..."

"I can see you!"

Without having to turn around, his heart was already in panic. He gasped as his legs began to shake. For how long Natsume was engulfed in this desperate chase, he was unconscious of it. Nevertheless, Natsume knew he could not run much longer. The fleeting glimpses of trees flew past behind him like still pictures in an unceasing nightmare.

_Nyanko-sensei! Where are you!_

Peering behind, Natsume caught sight of the approaching youkai. Swaying its tongue violently in the air, it streams savagely with its hands outstretched, unflinching.

A burrow in the soft earth, Natsume's foot got caught. In a turbulent roll, Natsume thrust, and shoved through the bemired soil. Sprawled with his fingers dug deep into muck, his face soddened, his body prostrated.

Not far behind, the youkai unleashed a bloodless scream.

"YOU ARE MINE NOW!"


	2. The Hole

**Natsume and the Sakura Tree  
**

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**Chapter 2: The Hole**

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In a daze, Natsume gradually opened his eyes.

He had been greatly thrown off balance from the fall, that he could barely raise his chest. The tormenting howls of the youkai drew closer.

"Natsume..."

Tasting the air with its tongue, the scent of blood made the youkai more voracious.

_Shigeru-san... Touko-san... _

_No... No!... I don't want to die._

Defeating his pain, elbowing through the slush, Natsume pulled his body up with all his might.

In the course of lifting his back, he glanced at something peculiar ahead. Natsume teetered and tottered, wiping mud from his forehead, his vision finally cleared.

Gouged on a wall of mountainous rock, was a dark hole large enough for a person to hide.

Beyond the mossy carpets and the curtain of vines, that entwined and sprouted through the cracks, were undulating piles of colossal rubble.

Natsume was at a dead end.

Turning around, Natsume saw the youkai blasting through the trees, heading at full speed. Eyes fixed, its tongue dangling in the wind.

It laughs in hysteria.

"You've got no where to run, Natsume!"

Grinding his teeth, clenching his fist, Natsume sprinted to his only escape.

Enraged, the youkai bellowed, "YOU'VE GOT NO WHERE TO RUN!"

At its ultimate burst, the youkai pierced through the air, clawing within threads of Natsume's collar.

_I've got to make it! _

Before the youkai could even scratch his neck, Natsume slid into the darkness and vanished.


	3. The Mysterious Disappearance

**Natsume and the Sakura Tree**

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**Chapter 3: The Mysterious Disappearance**

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Crouched in a corner within the hole, lay Natsume panting in relief.

Between the slits of the veil of vines, Natsume peeked at the confused youkai thrashing about in bewilderment.

"Where are you! Where are you! I can still smell you!"

Inspecting his soiled clothes, Natsume noticed a blooming red streak on his left knee. Apparently, he had been grazed from the fall.

_Nyanko-sensei... Please find me soon._

Throughout the time of Natsume's hiding, his eyes carefully followed the trail of the youkai's tongue. His heart palpitating whenever it got too close to the hole. Odd enough, Natsume realized that the hole isn't as small as to be inconspicuous to have been overlooked. Since, the youkai chased him here, it should have seen him slipping...

_Why._

"NATSUME! COME OUT! I KNOW YOU ARE STILL HERE!"


	4. The Eye of Light

**Natsume and the Sakura Tree  
**

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**Chapter 4: The Eye of Light**

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Air in the void was damp and cold. Natsume's eyes circled the ceiling with knees tucked to his shoulders. Meanwhile, the youkai hissed, and paced restlessly along the entrance of the hole.

"You can't hide forever, Natsume!"

It's without exception for his cat to come to the rescue at troubling times like this. Forevermore ready, forevermore present, to cover Natsume from youkais with malicious intent. Strangely... Not this time.

_I hope you are all right, Nyanko-sensei. _

With the faith in his cat, Natsume relaxed his legs, impressing his feet into the soft soil. His back leaning against the cool wall, he resolved to wait.

Calmed and rested, Natsume thought that the hole would make a decent home for a boar to live in. He smiled at the idea of a contented animal hibernating here during the winter, so that he could watch Tanuma's expression after telling him that, he bunked in a hole, where a boar had slept.

_Pfff!_

"Ha-ha"

Muting his chuckle with his fist, something twinkled in the corner of Natsume's eye.

From the unlit side of the wall, blinking, was a tiny eyelet of light no bigger than Natsume's thumb.

Inquisitive, Natsume quietly left his corner, and crawled towards the opposing wall.

Stopping before a boundary of light, he lifted his right hand.

Extending his fingers, Natsume gently brushed the rim of the eyelet ... but failed, his hand falling straight to the earth.

_Maybe it's further in the back. _

Natsume leaned forward, his hand immersed deeper into the shadows.

_I... I can't seem to feel anything..._

Losing balance, his hand fell to the earth once more.

Startled, Natsume backed away to his corner.

_A youkai!_

Buried beneath the soil, Natsume grabbed a pebble. Within the tight space, he threw the rock as hard, and as far as he could. Panting in fear, Natsume waited anxiously for the slightest response.

Hushed and dark the wall remained, the boundary of light untouched.

Nothing of the unknown emerged, nor the sound of the trundling rock echoed.

At the baffled boy, the tiny eyelet of light blinked.


	5. The Presence of Something Should Not Be

**Natsume and the Sakura Tree**

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**Chapter 5: The Presence of Something Should Not Be**

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Confused, knee by knee, Natsume cautiously crept.

Ahead, the eyelet of light beamed, unmoved by Natsume's concern.

Mustering his courage, Natsume placed both hands beyond the boundary. Crawling deeper, his body swallowed into the darkness.

Breaths of vapor permeate the air, the soil braced by the hands of a boy. Natsume crawled steadily towards the eye.

With each knee forward, the more brilliant the eye blinked.

Natsume stopped.

Amidst the unknown, he had to make sure.

Staring at the eyelet, Natsume cleared his throat ... and spoke.

"Hello."

Waves of voices propagate through the tunnel, cruising in a perpetual space, before receding to whispers of a hello.

His eyes widened.

_In a rock!_

Squinting at the eyelet, Natsume tried to peer through.

In his many dangerous encounters, Natsume has developed a keen sense of feeling the subtle presences of youkais, without actually having to see them. He could also tell apart whether a being is human or a youkai; one having an aura like his own, while the other is beyond this world.

Natsume begins to sense something.

Unable to catch a glimpse, its blinding light concealed whatever it guarded within it.

Natsume leaned closer, and not because he wanted to peek.

Sliding one knee through the earth, Natsume stretched his neck. The feeling got stronger.

He had never felt this kind of presence before. Confound, Natsume couldn't distinguish.

_...A youkai?_

Not quite.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Natsume pushed the other knee.

His pupils dilate.

With his eyes transfixed before the light, Natsume gasped in shock.

_No... It can't be..._

Back at the hole, a great glow of auroral blue burst through the veinal curtain.

Turning around, the shrill of the dreaded youkai echoed into his ears.

A familiar voice resounded, calling for his name.

"NATSUME!"


End file.
